Supporting secure sessions in a cloud-based proxy service

ABSTRACT

A proxy server in a cloud-based proxy service receives a secure session request from a client device for a secure session. The secure session request is received at the proxy server as a result of a Domain Name System (DNS) request for a domain resolving to the proxy server. The proxy server participates in a secure session negotiation with the client device including transmitting a digital certificate to the client device that is bound to domain and multiple other domains. The proxy server receives an encrypted request from the client device for an action to be performed on a resource that is hosted at an origin server corresponding to the domain. The proxy server decrypts the request and participates in a secure session negotiation with the origin server including receiving a digital certificate from the origin server. The proxy server encrypts the decrypted request using the digital certificate from the origin server and transmits the encrypted request to the origin server.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of secure networkcommunications; and more specifically, to supporting secure sessions(e.g., SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security)) in acloud-based proxy service.

BACKGROUND

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security), which isthe successor to SSL, provide secure network connections. SSL and/or TLSare commonly used during web browsing (e.g., using HTTPS), email, andother Internet applications. An SSL or TLS client and server negotiate aset of parameters to establish a secure session in a process called ahandshake. During the handshake process, the client connects to theSSL/TLS server requesting a secure session and provides cryptographicinformation including the version and the type of cryptographicalgorithms supported by the client. The SSL/TLS server chooses one ofthe cryptographic algorithms and responds accordingly to the client. TheSSL/TLS server also includes its digital certificate. The digitalcertificate typically includes the server name, a public key associatedwith the server, the identification and signature of the CertificateAuthority (CA) that issued the certificate (the CA may be a trustedthird party or may be the domain owner), and other information. Theclient may contact the CA to confirm the validity of the certificatebefore proceeding. If the client is not able to confirm validity of thecertificate, it may generate a warning to the user and the user may beallowed to choose whether to proceed. The client sends a message to theserver that includes a random number used to generate the symmetricencryption keys and the MAC (message authentication code) keys, which isencrypted with the public key of the server. The server responds with afinish message and the SSL handshake ends, at which point encrypted datacan be exchanged between the client and the server.

Virtual hosting is a technique where multiple websites (multipledomains) are hosted on a single server. Name-based virtual hosting is atechnique where multiple domains share the same IP address. ISPs(Internet Service Providers) that provide hosting capabilities forrelatively small websites commonly use virtual hosting as a way to sharethe cost of resources. Virtual hosting is also commonly used in datacenters. In name-based virtual hosting, in the case of an HTTP request,the server determines which virtual host (which website) to send arequest to based on the Host header field in the request. In traditionalSSL, the handshake procedure (where the server transmits its certificateto the host) occurs prior to the HTTP request. Thus, in traditional SSL,during the handshake procedure, the server does not know the destinationhost. This causes the server to employ a separate IP address for eachvirtual host that is configured with SSL. Since IP addresses are anincreasingly limited resource (especially IPv4 addresses), having aseparate IP address for each virtual host does not scale well and isamplified in a cloud environment across multiple data centers.

TLS, which is the successor to SSL, supports an extension to thehandshake procedure called Server Name Indication (SNI). SNI isdescribed in RFC 3546, June 2003. SNI allows the client to transmit thedestination host name during the handshake procedure. This allows theserver to determine the proper certificate to send to the client. If SNIis used, a server may use name-based virtual hosting without having anIP address for each virtual host and the appropriate certificate can bereturned depending on the indicated host. SNI, however, is not supportedby all browsers and/or operating systems. As a result, many servers donot support SSL and name-based virtual hosting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by referring to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrateembodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for supporting secure sessions ina cloud based proxy service according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations forregistering for secure session capability according to one embodiment

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates exemplary operations forconfiguring secure session capability in a cloud-based proxy serviceincluding causing multiple domains to be clustered into a single digitalcertificate according to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating email validation for securesession registration according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates a web page validationprocedure for secure session registration according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations forinstalling a certificate in a cloud-based proxy service according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations for updatingthe installation status of a certificate according to one embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations for a proxyserver in a cloud-based proxy service to install a certificate accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed ata proxy server in a cloud-based proxy service to install a secondarycertificate according to one embodiment

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed bya proxy server for establishing and using secure sessions in acloud-based proxy service according to one embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a data flow diagram that illustrates exemplary operations forestablishing and using secure sessions in a cloud-based proxy serviceaccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed ona proxy server for responding to an attack on a particular IP addressaccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 13A is a flow diagram that illustrates part of exemplary operationsfor moving a domain from one certificate to another certificate in acloud-based proxy service according to one embodiment;

FIG. 13B is a flow diagram that illustrates part of the exemplaryoperations of FIG. 13A for moving a domain from one certificate toanother certificate in a cloud-based proxy service according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 14 illustrates exemplary operations for supporting secure sessionsin a cloud-based proxy service with Host header field override accordingto one embodiment; and

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer systemused in accordance with one embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail inorder not to obscure the understanding of this description. Those ofordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be ableto implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should beunderstood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other.“Coupled” is used to indicate that two or more elements, which may ormay not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other,co-operate or interact with each other. “Connected” is used to indicatethe establishment of communication between two or more elements that arecoupled with each other.

A method and apparatus for supporting secure sessions in a cloud-basedproxy service is described. The cloud-based proxy service is availableover the Internet and does not require customers (e.g., owners of adomain and/or personnel working on behalf of a domain owner) to installhardware or software to support secure session capability (at least fromthe client device to the proxy network). A proxy server of the servicereceives requests from client devices for secure sessions. For example,the proxy server receives a request for a secure session from a clientdevice responsive to a client network application (e.g., a web browser)on the device visiting a website with a URL that begins with HTTPS(e.g., https://example.com). By way of specific example, the request isan SSL or a TLS client-hello message. In one embodiment, the proxyserver receives the request as a result of a DNS (Domain Name System)request for the domain (e.g., example.com) resolving to the proxyserver. Multiple domains, which may be owned by different domain owners,may resolve to the same proxy server.

The initial request for a secure session may or may not include theServer Name Indication (SNI) extension with the destination host namedepending on the capabilities of the client network application (e.g.,the web browser) and/or operating system of the client device. The proxyserver negotiates a secure session with the requesting client deviceincluding transmitting a digital certificate to the client device thatincludes the server name (e.g., example.com), a public key, theidentification and signature of the Certificate Authority (CA) thatissued the certificate, and other information (e.g., time thecertificate if valid, etc.). The certificate may also include a set ofone or more other domains that may or may not be owned by the samedomain owner that owns the requested domain. For example, thecertificate may include a number of domains in the Subject AlternateName (SAN) extension of the certificate.

After successfully negotiating a secure session, the client transmits anencrypted request to the proxy server (e.g., an HTTPS request). Theproxy server decrypts the request to determine the destination host. Theproxy server then determines whether that destination host (e.g., theorigin server that corresponds with example.com) supports a securesession. For example, the proxy server accesses a database thatindicates whether the destination host historically supports a securesession.

If the destination host historically supports a secure session or it isunclear whether the destination host supports a secure session, theproxy server attempts to establish a secure session with the destinationhost. For example, the proxy server transmits an SSL/TLS client-hellomessage to the proxy server identified in the decrypted HTTPs request.In one embodiment, this client-hello message includes the SNI extensionthat indicates the destination host name. Including the SNI extension inthe client-hello message (which identifies the destination host) allowsa hosting provider to implement name-based virtual hosting (multiplewebsites can share the same IP address) and return the appropriatecertificate for that host. The origin server returns the appropriatecertificate for the destination (e.g., in the SSL/TLS server-hellomessage) and the secure session is established (assuming that the originserver supports secure sessions). The proxy server then transmits anencrypted request (encrypted with the certificate received from theorigin server) to the origin server.

If the destination host does not support a secure session (e.g., thedomain owner of the destination has not established secure sessioncapability to the origin server), then in one embodiment the proxyserver transmits the request unencrypted to the proxy server. Thus inthis situation, the connection between the client device and the proxyserver is protected by a secure session (the communication will beencrypted) but the connection between the proxy server and the originserver is not protected by a secure session (the communication will beunencrypted).

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for supporting secure sessions ina cloud-based proxy service in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. The domain owners 135A-L own domains that are hosted on theorigin servers 130A-N. The domain owners 135A-L may or may not own orcontrol the origin servers 130A-N. For example, a domain owner 135 maycontract with a hosting provider that owns an origin server 130 thathosts at least some of the content of the domain of the domain owner135. The domains owned by the domain owners 135A-L point to the proxyserver 120. That is, a DNS query for any of those domains resolve to theproxy server(s) 120.

The service server 125, operated by the service, provides a set of toolsand interfaces for the domain owners 135A-L and is accessible over theInternet. For example, the service server 125, among other things,allows the domain owners 135A-L to register for the service. Thecloud-based proxy service may provide, among other things, protectionagainst Internet-based threats (e.g., proactively stopping botnets,cleaning viruses, trojans, and worms, etc.) and performance services forcustomers (e.g., acting as a node in a content delivery network (CDN)and dynamically caching customer's files closer to visitors, pageacceleration, etc.). In some embodiments, customers provision theservice through DNS. For example, DNS record(s) of a customer arechanged such that DNS records of hostnames point to an IP address of aproxy server instead of the origin server. In some embodiments, theauthoritative name server of the customer's domain is changed to anauthoritative name server of the service and/or individual DNS recordsare changed to point to the proxy server (or point to other domain(s)that point to a proxy server of the service). For example, the customersmay change their DNS records to point to a CNAME record that points to aproxy server of the service. In one embodiment, customers may use theservice server 125 to change their authoritative name server to theauthoritative name server 142 and/or change their zone file records tohave their domain point to the proxy server 120. As will be described ingreater detail later herein, the service server 125 also allows thedomain owners 135A-L to establish secure session capability for trafficbetween client devices and the proxy server 120 as well as manages thesecure session certificates.

The DNS system 140 is used to refer to the DNS system as a whole andincludes multiple DNS servers to resolve DNS requests. As illustrated,the DNS system 140 includes the authoritative name server 142, which isan authoritative name server for the service. The authoritative nameserver 142 may be the authoritative name server for the domains hostedat the origin servers 130A-N. It should be understood that the DNSsystem 140 may include more DNS servers (e.g., preferred domain servers,top-level domain name servers, or other domain servers) thanillustrated. It should also be understood that there may be multipleauthoritative web servers for the service and they may be geographicallydistributed.

The client devices 110A-I are computing devices that are capable ofaccessing network resources (e.g., laptops, workstations, smartphones,palm tops, mobile phones, tablets, gaming systems, set-top boxes, etc.).Each of the client devices 110A-I include a client network application115 (e.g., web browser, FTP client, SSH client, Telnet client, etc.),which is capable of accessing network resources. Users at the clientdevices 110A-I request network resources (e.g., HTML pages, images, wordprocessing documents, PDF files, movie files, music files, or othercomputer files) through the client network application.

The origin servers 130A-N are computing devices that serve networkresources (e.g., HTML pages, images, word processing documents, PDFfiles, movie files, music files, or other computer files). The originservers 130A-N respond to requests for network resources (e.g., from anHTTP request, FTP request, telnet request, etc.). Although notillustrated in FIG. 1, it should be understood that the networkresources of the origin servers 130A-N may be stored separately from thedevice that responds to the requests. In addition, some of the originservers 130A-N may host multiple ones of the domains owned by the domainowners 135A-L. For example, a single origin server 130 may host multipledomains owned by the same domain owner or different domain ownersthrough use of virtual hosting. In one embodiment, the virtual hostingis name-based virtual hosting where multiple websites (domains), whichmay or may not be owned or operated by the same domain owner, are hostedon the same IP address.

The proxy server 120 is a computing device that is situated between theclient devices 110A-I and the origin servers 130A-N. Certain networktraffic between the client devices 110A-I and the origin servers 130A-Npass through the proxy server 120. For example, requests for resources(e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, etc.) at the domains hosted by the origin servers130A-N are directed to the proxy server 120 as a result of a DNS request150 for those domains resolving 152 to the proxy server 120. As anotherexample, responses (e.g., HTTP responses)

The proxy server 120 negotiates secure sessions with the client devices110A-I responsive to the client devices requesting a secure session. Forexample, the proxy server 120 receives a request for a secure sessionfrom a client device 120 response to a client network application 115visiting a website with a URL that begins with HTTPS. The request is anSSL or TLS client-hello message. In one embodiment, the SSL or TLSclient-hello message is transmitted to the proxy server 120 as a resultof a DNS request for the requested domain resolving to the proxy server120. The specific type of client-hello message is dependent on thecapabilities of the client network application 115 and/or the operatingsystem running on the client device 110. For example, some client-hellomessages may include the SNI extension while others may not, dependingon the capabilities of the client network application 115 and/or theoperating system running on the client device 110. After a client device110 and the proxy server 120 establish a secure session, traffic betweenthem can be sent encrypted on the secure connection 160. In someembodiments, the proxy server 120 is also capable of receiving trafficfrom the client devices 110A-I that is not over a secure connection(e.g., regular HTTP traffic).

The proxy server 120 may also negotiate a secure session with an originserver depending on whether the origin server supports secure sessions.For example, the proxy server 120 receives an encrypted request (e.g.,an HTTPS request) from a client device and decrypts that request todetermine the destination host name. The proxy server 120 accesses thesupport secure session store 124 to determine whether the origin server130 corresponding to the destination host name has previously supportedsecure sessions. The support secure session store 124 indicates whetherthe origin servers historically support secure sessions. In oneembodiment, the support secure session store 124 is populated byperiodically checking whether the origin server supports secure sessionsby attempting to establish a secure session and recording the outcome.The secure session store 124 may also indicate the type of securesession supported by the origin server (e.g., SSL, TLS, versions of SSLor TLS, etc.).

Assuming that the origin server 130 supports secure sessions, the proxyserver 120 transmits a request for a secure session to the origin server130. For example, the proxy server 120 transmits an SSL or TLSclient-hello message. If the origin server 130 supports TLS, the proxyserver 120 transmits a TLS client-hello message with the SNI extensionto identify the destination host name. The origin server returns theappropriate certificate for the destination (e.g., in a TLS server-hellomessage) and the secure session is established using that certificate.Traffic (e.g., responses and requests) is then encrypted over theconnection 166 between the proxy server 120 and the origin server 130.

In one embodiment, if the origin server 130 does not support securesessions, the proxy server 120 transmits the decrypted request to theorigin server 130 unencrypted.

The Certificate Authority (CA) 128 is a trusted entity that issuesdigital certificates for secure sessions. In one embodiment the CA 128issues digital certificates for the secure connection 160 for thedomains owned by the domain owners 135A-L. The CA 128 may also issuedigital certificates for the connection 166.

Registering for Secure Sessions in a Cloud-Based Proxy Service

In one embodiment, the domain owners 135A-L register 170 for securesession capability in the cloud-based proxy service of FIG. 1 throughuse of the service server 125. For example, the service server 125provides an interface that allows the domain owners 135A-L to requestSSL to be established for their domain(s) (or one or more subdomains).In one embodiment, a customer (e.g., domain owner and/or personnelworking on behalf of the domain owner) uses the service server 125 toselect one or more of its fully-qualified domain names (FQDNs) toestablish secure session capability.

In one embodiment, during registration of the cloud-based proxy servicefor a particular domain, the service server 125 tests that domain and/orone or more subdomains (or cause subdomains to be tested) in order todetermine if they have secure session capability enabled. The goal is toensure that subdomains that have secure session capability are notproxied through a proxy server until after a certificate is installed.If this is not done, then the secure session connections may fail. Inone embodiment the test can be done on all subdomains or only on thosesubdomains designated to be proxied through the system afterregistration for the cloud-based service is complete.

In one embodiment, the test includes the service server 125 (or otherserver of the service) attempting to open a web connection and establisha session over HTTPS (typically port 443) for each tested subdomain.These tests may be done in sequence or in parallel. If a successfulHTTPS connection is established, then the service server 125 recordsinformation about the certificate (e.g., information about who thecertificate was issued to, certificate provider, certificate expirationdate, certificate issuance date, certificate encryption bit level, anysubject alternate names (SANs) in the certificate, etc.). The subdomainon which the successful HTTPS connection was established is marked ashaving secure session capability (e.g., in the customer store 127).

In one embodiment, for subdomains that have secure session capability,customers are prompted if they want to add a secure session certificateto the system. Customers may also choose to add secure sessioncapability to subdomains that do not already have SSL enabled. In oneembodiment, if customers opt to not install secure session capabilityand at least some of their subdomains are secure session enabled, thenthe service server 125 warns them that secure session connections fortheir subdomains may experience errors.

In one embodiment, if a customer chooses to register for secure sessioncapability for one or more of its domains, the DNS records for thosedomains will continue to point to the origin server directly until thesecure session certificate has been issued (e.g., by the CertificateAuthority) and is installed and enabled on the proxy network. Once thathas occurred, the DNS records for those domains will point to a proxyserver rather than directly to the origin server.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations forregistering for secure session capability according to one embodiment.The operations of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the serviceserver 125; however it should be understood that the operations of FIG.2 can be performed by embodiments other than those discussed withreference to the service server 125 and the service server 125 canperform operations different than those discussed with reference to theoperations of FIG. 2.

At operation 210, the service server 125 receives the name of the domain(e.g., example.com) from a customer as part of registering for thecloud-based proxy service. Flow then moves to operation 215 and theservice server 125 determines a number of subdomains for the domain. Forexample, the subdomains may be input by the customer and/or determinedby the service server 125 by testing common subdomains (e.g., www, blog,mail, etc.).

Flow the moves to operation 220 and the service server 125 determinesthat at least one of the subdomains has secure session capabilityenabled outside of the proxy network (e.g., secure session capability onthe connection 166). For example, the service server 125 attempts toopen a web connection and establish a session over HTTPS for each of thesubdomains to determine whether they are enabled with secure sessioncapability.

Flow then moves to operation 225 and the service server 125 prompts thecustomer to add secure session capability for the connection between theclient devices and the proxy network (e.g., connection 160) for thesubdomains that have secure session capability enabled. The customer mayalso add secure session capability for the connection between the clientdevices and the proxy network for those subdomains that do not currentlyhave secure session capability enabled. Flow then moves to operation 230and the service server 125 receives a selection from the customer to addsecure session capability to one or more subdomains. If the serviceserver 125 does not receive a selection for a subdomain in which securesession capability is enabled outside of the proxy network, the serviceserver 125 may warn the customer that not enabling secure sessioncapability may cause errors.

Flow then moves to operation 235 and the service server 125 causes acertificate to be installed and enabled on one or more proxy servers120. In one embodiment, the service server 125 prompts the customer touse their certificate installed for traffic directly to their originserver (e.g., the certificate used on the connection 166). If thecustomer does not have a certificate already installed or chooses not touse it, then the service server 125 causes one or more certificates tobe generated for the customer. In one embodiment, the service server 125may cause multiple domains, which may or may not belong to differentdomain owners, to be bound to the same digital certificate. For example,the certificate may include a number of domains in the Subject AlternateName (SAN) extension of the certificate. The certificate(s) areinstalled and enabled on one or more proxy servers in the cloud-basedproxy service.

Flow then moves to operation 240, where responsive to a certificatebound to the domain(s) of the customer being installed and enabled inthe proxy network, the DNS records of the domain and/or subdomains areupdated such that they point to a proxy server of the cloud-based proxyservice.

In one embodiment, after receiving a request to establish secure sessioncapability on a set of one or more particular domains (or subdomains),the service server 125 requests 172 a digital certificate on behalf ofthose domain(s) or subdomain(s) from the Certificate Authority 128 andif the domain owner is validated, receives a digital certificate 176 forthose domain(s) or subdomain(s).

In another embodiment, responsive to a customer registering for secureservice for its root domain, the service server 125 automaticallyrequests 172 a digital certificate with two SAN entries for that rootdomain: one SAN entry for the root domain (e.g., example.com) and oneSAN entry for a wildcard covering all subdomains for the root domain(e.g., *.example.com). In such an embodiment, the customer does not haveto select each and every FQDN it wants to establish secure sessioncapability for.

In one embodiment, the service server 125 causes multiple domains to beclustered in certificates based on a set of parameters. For example, theservice server 125 may cause a FQDN that shares a root domain withanother FQDN (e.g., www.example.com and blog.example.com) to be bound tothe same digital certificate (these FQDNs that share a root domain maybe owned by the same domain owner or different domain owners). Asanother example, the service server 125 may cause multiple differentdomains (e.g., www.example1.com and www.example2.com) that are ownedand/or operated by the same domain owner to be bound to the same digitalcertificate. As yet another example, the service server 125 may causedomains to be clustered into certificates based on their content.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates exemplary operations forconfiguring secure session capability in a cloud-based proxy serviceincluding causing multiple domains to be clustered into a single digitalcertificate according to one embodiment. The operations of FIG. 3 willbe described as being performed by the service server 125; however itshould be understood that one or more other devices may performoperations described with reference to FIG. 3, and the service server125 may perform operations different than those discussed with referenceto FIG. 3.

At operation 305, the service server 125 receives a request from acustomer to establish secure session capability for a root domain and/orone or more subdomains. The request may specifically indicate multipleFQDNs that the customer wishes to establish secure session capabilityfor (e.g., www.example.com; blog.example.com, mail.example.com, etc.) ormay only indicate a single root domain or subdomain (e.g., example.com).In one embodiment, the customer has been validated as being able torequest secure session capability for the domain through the serviceregistration procedure. For example, in one embodiment, registering forthe cloud-based proxy service requires that the customer change theirname server to a particular name server (given by the service), whichdemonstrates that the customer has the authority to change DNS records.In another embodiment, during registration of the cloud-based proxyservice, the service server 125 queries the customer to add a uniquerecord to their existing DNS file. This record may be any valid DNSrecord type. In one example, a customer could add a TXT record with aunique string of characters. The system could check for the presence ofthis TXT record and, if the string of characters matched, designate thecustomer who was issued that string of characters in association withthat domain as authoritative for the domain.

Next, at operation 310, the service server 125 creates one or moreentries for inclusion in the SAN extension of a certificate. In oneembodiment, responsive to receiving a request for a single root domain,the service server 125 creates at least two entries to be included asSANs in a certificate: one for the root domain (e.g., example.com) andone for a wildcard that covers all the subdomains of that root domain(e.g., *.example.com). Responsive to receiving a request for securesession capability that specifically indicates multiple FQDNs, theservice server 125 creates an entry for each FQDN to be included as aSAN in a certificate.

Flow then moves to operation 315 and the service server 125 determineswhether there is a certificate that is bound with a domain that has thesame root domain as the requested domain/subdomain (e.g.,www.example.com and blog.example.com share the same root domain ofexample.com). In one embodiment the service server 125 accesses thecertificate store 126 for this determination. The certificate store 126stores the certificates along with an attribute that indicates how manydomains and subdomains are bound to the certificate. The service server125 (or another device) limits the number of domains and subdomains thatmay be bound to the certificate to a configurable number (e.g., 40domains and subdomains).

If there is a certificate that includes a domain that has the same rootdomain as the requested domain/subdomain, then flow moves to operation320 where the service server 125 determines whether the capacity of thatcertificate would support adding the entry(ies) created in operation310. For example, the service server 125 accesses the certificate store126 to determine whether the certificate can support adding the createdentry(ies). If the certificate can support adding the entry(ies), thenflow moves to operation 325 and the service server 125 creates acertificate update request to add those entry(ies) to the certificate(e.g., to be included in the SAN extension) and updates the counter forthe number of domains and subdomains that are bound to the certificatein the certificate store 126. Flow moves from operation 325 to operation360. If the certificate cannot support adding the entry(ies), then flowmoves to operation 330. In addition, if a certificate does not existthat includes a domain that has the same root domain, then flow movesfrom operation 315 to operation 330.

At operation 330, the service server 125 determines whether the domainowner has another domain or subdomain currently bound to a certificate.In one embodiment the service server 125 maintains the customer store127, which stores customer (domain owner) information, including thename of the domains and/or subdomains that are configured with securesession capability for the cloud-based proxy service. In one embodimentthe service server 125 accesses the customer store 127 to identify thename of the domain owner's domains and/or subdomains that have beenconfigured with secure session capability and compares that list withthe information in the certificate store 126. In another embodiment, thecustomer store 127 also indicates the certificate(s) (if any) thatinclude a domain or subdomain of each domain owner, which is used by theservice server 125 to determine whether the domain owner has anotherdomain or subdomain currently bound to another certificate. If thedomain owner has another domain or subdomain currently bound to anothercertificate, then flow moves to operation 335, otherwise flow moves tooperation 340. At operation 335 the service server 125 determineswhether that certificate can support adding the created entry(ies). Ifit can, then flow moves to operation 325 and the service server 125creates a certificate update request to add the created entry(ies) tothe certificate (e.g., to be included in the SAN extension of thecertificate) and updates the counter for the number of domains andsubdomains that are bound to the certificate in the certificate store126. Flow moves from operation 325 to operation 360. If the certificatecannot support adding the created entry(ies), however, then flow movesto operation 340.

At operation 340, the service server 125 determines whether the websitecorresponding to the domain or subdomain has content that is categorizedin a predefined category. By way of example, the predefined category mayinclude adult content. Other types of categories are also possible(e.g., religious categories, commercial categories, news/sportscategories, etc.). In one embodiment, the customer store 127 indicates,for each domain or subdomain of a domain owner, the content of thatdomain or subdomain. In another embodiment, the customer store 127indicates for each domain or subdomain of a domain owner whether thecontent of that subdomain or domain is flagged such that it will not beclustered with other domains/subdomains that are not owned by the samedomain owner. In another embodiment, the certificate store 126 includesan attribute for each certificate that indicates a category type.Certain domain owners may prefer and/or request to not have theirdomains/subdomains be bound to the same certificate as other types ofdomains (e.g., a religious website may prefer not to be bound to thesame certificate as an adult website) and clustering those domains thathave a predefined content category helps meet that preference and/orrequest.

If the website corresponding to the domain or subdomain has content thatis categorized in a predefined category, then flow moves to operation345, otherwise flow moves to operation 350. At operation 345, theservice server 125 determines whether there is a certificate that isbound with other domains of the same category that can support addingthe created entry(ies). For example, the service server 125 accesses thecustomer store 127 and/or the certificate store 126 to determine whetherthere is another certificate that is bound with a domain of the samecategory and can support adding the created entries. If there is, thenflow moves to operation 325 and the service server 125 creates acertificate update request to add the created entry(ies) to thecertificate (e.g., to be included in the SAN extension) and the counterfor the number of domains and subdomains that are bound to thecertificate is updated in the certificate store 126. Flow moves fromoperation 325 to operation 360. If there is not, then in one embodimentflow moves to operation 355 while in another embodiment flow moves tooperation 350. At operation 355, the certificate is marked for use forthat predefined category (e.g., in the certificate store 126) such thatfuture domains of the same category are able to be clustered into thatcertificate.

At operation 350, the service server 125 creates a certificate requestto add the created entry(ies) to the certificate that is bound with thefewest domains and increments the counter for that domain in thecertificate store 126. For example, the service server 125 accesses thecertificate store 126 to determine which certificate has the lowestcount and updates that certificate. Flow then moves to operation 360where the service server 125 submits the update request (e.g., a SANupdate request) to the Certificate Authority 128.

In one embodiment, the service server 125 tracks the status of thecertificate requests. For example, a certificate request may be pendingwhile waiting for validation that the entity making the request isauthorized. In one embodiment, the service server 125 creates a recordin the customer store 127 that indicates the validation status (e.g.,pending, validated) of each domain owner.

Flow moves from operation 360 to operation 365 where the service server125 receives the result of the update request from the CertificateAuthority 128. Assuming that the update request was successful, theservice server 125 will receive an updated certificate that includes theaddition of the domain or subdomain in the SAN extension of thecertificate. The service server 125 then causes the digital certificateto be installed.

While FIG. 3 shows a particular order of operations performed, it shouldbe understood that such order is exemplary. Alternative embodiments mayperform the operations in a different order, omit certain operations,combine certain operations, etc. In addition, in some embodiments, theset of parameters further includes the status of a certificate (e.g.,pending or issued). A certificate request may be pending while waitingfor validation from the domain owners whose domain(s) are bound to thatcertificate. In one embodiment, if possible, the service server 125selects a certificate that does not have any pending verifications whenit makes a certificate request for the created entry(ies). For example,the domain owner may have multiple domains bound to multiplecertificates. The service server 125 may select the certificate thatdoes not have any pending verifications (or the certificate that has thefewest pending verifications) that can support adding the createdentry(ies).

In one embodiment, in addition to creating a request for a digitalcertificate to include the root domain and/or subdomains of a customer,which may also be bound to other domains, the service server 125automatically requests another digital certificate bound to that rootdomain and/or subdomains that will not be bound to other root domainsand their corresponding subdomains. For example, consider the serviceserver 125 receiving a request for secure session capability for theroot domain example1.com. In response, the service server 125 mayrequest the domain be bound to a first certificate that is also bound toother root domains and/or their subdomains (e.g., the certificate may bebound with example1.com; *.example.1.com; example2.com; *.example2.com;exampleN.com; and *.exampleN.com) and request the domain be bound to asecond certificate that will not be bound to other root domains or theircorresponding subdomains (e.g., the certificate may only be bound withexample1.com and *.example1.com). The first certificate, which may, andtypically is, bound to other domains is referred herein as the primarycertificate. The second certificate which is only bound to the rootdomain and/or its subdomain(s) is referred herein as the secondarycertificate. The use of the secondary certificates will be described ingreater detail later herein.

Typically each Certificate Authority has a procedure to validate whetherthe entity making the request (the domain owner) is an authorized entityfor the certificate. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the Certificate Authority128 validates the domain ownership at operation 174. Differentcertificate authorities may have different validation procedures, whichmay include interaction on behalf of the domain owners. For example,some Certificate Authorities may use an email validation system where anemail is sent to one or more authorized addresses (e.g., an email listedin the WHOIS database for the domain, or other predefined emailaddresses (e.g., admin@example.com, administrator@example.com,hostmaster@example.com, postmaster@example.com, root@example.com,webmaster@example.com, and info@example.com)) that includes a link thatwhen selected causes a token to be sent to the Certificate Authority ormay be replied to in order to validate authenticity. As another example,the Certificate Authority may use a web page validation method where theCertificate Authority issues a unique code for the domain (or subdomain)and this code is then entered into a web page (either automatically bythe service server 125 or by the customer) that is sent to theCertificate Authority for validating. As another example, theCertificate Authority may check whether the authoritative name server ofthe domain has been changed to a particular authoritative name server(the service server 125 may automatically change the authoritative nameserver of the domain or the customer may change the authoritative nameserver of the domain). As another example, the Certificate Authority maycheck for a particular subdomain of the root domain that includes aparticular verification code (e.g., verifycode.example.com). Thesubdomain and content with the inserted verification code may beautomatically created by the service server 125 or created by thecustomer. As yet another example, the Certificate Authority may check aTXT DNS record or some other DNS record for a particular verificationcode (the code may be entered by the domain owner or automaticallyentered by the service server 125). The Certificate Authority may alsouse other authentication techniques (e.g., placing a phone call,accessing public records databases, etc.).

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating email validation according to oneembodiment. The operations of FIG. 4 will be described as beingperformed by the service server 125, however it should be understoodthat one or more other devices may perform operations described withreference to FIG. 4, and the service server 125 may perform operationsdifferent than those discussed with reference to FIG. 4. The operationsdescribed with reference to FIG. 4 can be performed in conjunction withthe operations described with reference to FIG. 3.

At operation 410, the service server 125 receives a request from adomain owner 135 to establish secure session capability for a rootdomain and/or one or more subdomains. Flow then moves to operation 415where the service server 125 strips the subdomain (if a subdomain wasrequested) to obtain the root domain. Flow then moves to operation 420and the service server 125 queries the WHOIS database for the recordthat corresponds with the root domain. The WHOIS database includes,among other things, contact information for the domain including one ormore email addresses. The service server 125 then extracts the emailaddress(es) from the WHOIS record for the root domain at operation 425.

Next, at operation 430, the service server 125 prompts the domain owner135 to select one or more of the extracted email addresses or an emailaddress of a predefined role account (e.g., admin@example.com,administrator@example.com, hostmaster@example.com,postmaster@example.com, root@example.com, webmaster@example.com, andinfo@example.com). Flow then moves to operation 435 and the serviceserver 125 receives a selection from the domain owner 135 of one or moreof the email addresses. Next, the service server 125 generates andtransmits a request to the Certificate Authority 128 to issue acertificate for the root domain and/or one or more subdomains and send averification email to the selected email address(es) at operation 440.In some embodiments, the request includes multiple entries associatedwith the domain as described in FIG. 3 (e.g., the created entry(ies)described in operation 310). By way of a specific example, the entriesmay include the root domain (e.g., example.com) and a wildcard coveringall subdomains of the root domain (e.g., *.example.com).

Sometime after receiving the request, the Certificate Authority 128transmits a verification email to the selected email address(es). In oneembodiment, the verification email includes a link that, when selected,causes a token to be sent to the Certificate Authority. In anotherembodiment, the domain owner replies to the verification email in orderto validate authenticity. The Certificate Authority may also take one ormore additional authentication procedures prior to issuing thecertificate.

In another embodiment, instead of prompting the domain owner to selectemail address(es) and receiving a selection from the domain owner, theservice server 125 automatically requests the Certificate Authority 128to issue a certificate for the domain and send a verification email toeach of the extracted email addresses and/or email addresses of apredefined role account.

The domain owner 135 receives a verification email at least at oneaccount (e.g., from the Certificate Authority). The domain owner 135 mayalso be notified of the pending verification email. For example, theservice server 125 may cause an email, text message, phone call, orother message to be communicated with the domain owner 135 alerting thedomain owner that a verification email is pending. In one embodiment,the verification email includes a link that when selected, causes atoken to be transmitted to the Certificate Authority. In anotherembodiment, the verification email, when replied to, validates theauthenticity of the domain owner. In one embodiment, after verifying adomain owner, the Certificate Authority transmits a message to theservice server 125 that indicates that the domain owner has beenverified.

Assuming that the domain owner is authenticated, the CertificateAuthority generates a digital certificate bound to the requested entries(e.g., the root domain and/or subdomains, the root domain and a wildcardcovering all subdomains of the root domain, etc.). At operation 445, theservice server 125 receives the digital certificate from the CertificateAuthority 128. The service server 125 may display a message to thedomain owner and/or transmit an email message or other status messagethat alerts the user of the successful issuance of the digitalcertificate for the domain.

Flow then moves to operation 450 and the service server 125 causes thedigital certificate to be installed. For example, the service server 125installs 178 the digital certificate for the domain on the proxy server120 (assuming that the domain resolves to the proxy server 120). Theservice server 125 may also keep a store of the certificates in thecertificate store 126. Installing the digital certificate will bedescribed in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 8.

In one embodiment, the DNS records of the domain continue to pointdirectly to their origin sever until the email verification is complete,the certificate has been issued by the Certificate Authority, and it hasbeen installed and enabled on each appropriate proxy server. After thisoccurs, the DNS records are updated to point to the appropriate proxyservers.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates a web page validationprocedure according to one embodiment. The operations of FIG. 5 will bedescribed as being performed by the service server 125, however itshould be understood that one or more other devices may performoperations described with reference to FIG. 5, and the service server125 may perform operations different than those discussed with referenceto FIG. 5. In addition, the operations described with reference to FIG.5 can be performed in addition to, or in lieu of, the operationsdescribed with reference to FIG. 4. The operations described withreference to FIG. 5 can be performed in conjunction with the operationsdescribed with reference to FIG. 3.

At operation 510, the service server 125 receives a request from adomain owner 135 to establish secure session capability for a rootdomain and/or one or more subdomains. Next, the service server 125transmits a request for a certificate for the root domain and/or one ormore subdomains to the Certificate Authority 128 at operation 515. Insome embodiments, the request includes multiple entries associated withthe domain as described in FIG. 3 (e.g., the created entry(ies)described in operation 310). By way of a specific example, the entriesmay include the root domain (e.g., example.com) and a wildcard coveringall subdomains of the root domain (e.g., *.example.com).

Flow then moves to operation 520 and the service server 125 receivesfrom the Certificate Authority 128 a unique code generated for thatdomain to prove authenticity. The service server 125 may receive theunique code via email, text message, or through other means.

Next, at operation 525, the service server 125 creates or modifies a webpage or other resource of the domain or subdomain to include the uniquecode. For example, the service server 125 may create an HTML page forthe domain or subdomain that includes the unique code. As anotherexample, the service server 125 may modify a page to include the uniquecode (e.g., by adding the unique code in the header of the page). Asanother example, the service server 125 inserts a TXT DNS record for theroot domain or subdomain that includes the unique code. As anotherexample, in one embodiment, if the Certificate Authority allows, theservice server 125 creates a new subdomain for verification purposes(e.g., verifycode.example.com) that is routed through the proxy network(e.g., verifycode.example.com resolves to an IP address of a proxyserver). The Certificate Authority may periodically check thatparticular subdomain for the unique verification code.

The web page or other resource with the unique code may be installed atthe proxy server 120 (assuming that the proxy server resolves to thedomain or subdomain). For example, consider the domain example.com andassume it resolves to the proxy server 120, the service server 125 maycreate or modify a web page with the URLhttp://example.com/verification.html that includes the unique code thatis accessible by the Certificate Authority upon request. In anotherembodiment, the web page is installed and hosted at the particularorigin server 135 that hosts the domain or subdomain.

Flow then moves to operation 530 and the service server 125 transmits aURL of the web page or other resource that includes the unique code tothe Certificate Authority 128. Sometime after receiving the URL, theCertificate Authority 128 requests the web page or other resource thatis identified in the received URL. This request may be routed throughthe proxy server 120, which may locally respond to the CertificateAuthority 128 (if the web page is locally accessible to the proxy server120 (e.g., in its cache)) or transmit the request to the origin serverthat hosts the domain or subdomain. In either case, the CertificateAuthority 128 receives the requested web page or other resource. TheCertificate Authority 128 parses the web page or other resource for theunique code. If the Certificate Authority 128 locates the unique codefor the domain or subdomain that it previously generated, then ittransmits a response to the service server 125 that indicates that thedomain or subdomain is authorized and generates and transmits a digitalcertificate for the domain or subdomain to the service server 125. Ifthe Certificate Authority 128 fails to locate the unique code for thedomain or subdomain (e.g., the web page or other data source does notinclude the unique code), then the Certificate Authority 128 transmitsan error message to the service server 125 that indicates that thedomain is not authorized.

With respect to FIG. 5, at operation 535, the service server 125receives a response from the Certificate Authority 128 that indicatesthat the domain is authorized. The service server 125 may update thevalidation status of the domain owner corresponding to the domain in thecustomer store 127.

Next, at operation 540, the service server 125 receives the digitalcertificate for the domain or subdomain from the Certificate Authority128. The service server 125 may display a message to the domain ownerand/or transmit an email message or other status message that alerts theuser of the successful issuance of the digital certificate for thedomain. Flow then moves to operation 545 and the service server 125causes the digital certificate to be installed. For example, the serviceserver 125 installs 178 the digital certificate for the domain on theproxy server 120 (assuming that the domain resolves to the proxy server120). The service server 125 may also keep a database of thecertificates in the certificate store 126. Installing the digitalcertificate will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6and 8.

In one embodiment, if the Certificate Authority requires that theweb-based verification process be performed on the root domain or aparticular subdomain through which traffic passes outside of the proxynetwork, or if the service server 125 cannot create a new subdomain forverification purposes (e.g., if the authoritative name server of thedomain is not changed to one of the service and instead a CNAME resolvesto a proxy server), the service server 125 causes the DNS records of thedomain to temporality point to the proxy network long enough for theCertificate Authority 128 to check the domain for the unique code.Responsive to the service server 125 receiving confirmation that theCertificate Authority 128 has checked the domain, the service server 125causes the DNS records of the domain to point back to the origin serveruntil the certificate is installed and enabled throughout the proxynetwork.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 120 attempts to encryptcommunications between the proxy server 120 and the origin server 130using a previously installed certificate on the origin sever. Forexample, the domain owner 135A may have received a certificate from acertificate authority for the origin server 130A, which may be used bythe proxy server 120 when negotiating secure sessions with that originserver 130A. In another embodiment, the proxy server 120 encrypts thecommunication between the proxy server 120 and the origin server 130using a self signed certificate (e.g., a certificate signed by theorigin server 130), an expired certificate issued by a certificateauthority, or a certificate for another domain.

While FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a single domain owner being validated, insome embodiments multiple domain owners need to be validated before theCertificate Authority generates the digital certificate. For example, ifthe request for the digital certificate includes multiple domains thatare owned by multiple domain owners that are each not validated, theCertificate Authority will perform the validation procedure with respectto each of the domain owners prior to issuing the certificate.

Installing Digital Certificates

In some embodiments, multiple proxy servers are geographicallydistributed in multiple point of presences (POPs). A POP is a collectionof networking equipment (e.g., proxy server(s) and may includeauthoritative name server(s)) that are geographically distributed todecrease the distance between requesting client devices and the content.Multiple proxy servers may have the same anycast IP address. The networktopology determines the best route to find the nearest server. Forexample, when a DNS request is made, the network transmits the DNSrequest to the closest authoritative name server. That authoritativename server then responds with a proxy server within that POP.Accordingly, a visitor will be bound to that proxy server until the nextDNS resolution for the requested domain (according to the TTL (time tolive) value as provided by the authoritative name server). Thus, ananycast IP address allows a domain to resolve to a physically differentproxy server depending on location of the client device even though theproxy servers share the same IP address. Anycast is also useful as areliability mechanism as it can provide automatic failover. For example,if one of the proxy server's fail, the request will be automaticallyrouted to another proxy server that shares the same anycast IP address.In some embodiments, instead of using an anycast mechanism, embodimentsuse a geographical load balancer to route traffic to the nearest POP.

As a result of having multiple proxy servers, the certificates areinstalled in multiple locations. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustratingexemplary operations performed by the service server 125 when installinga certificate according to one embodiment. At operation 610, the serviceserver 125 receives a certificate to install from the CertificateAuthority 128. In one embodiment, the service server 125 receives aprimary certificate and a secondary certificate.

Flow then moves to operation 615 where the service server 125 determineswhether there are proxy server(s) where the certificate(s) are notinstalled. For example, the service server 125 accesses the certificatestore 126 to determine the status of installation of the certificate(s).

As a certificate is successfully installed, the service server 125updates the status of installation accordingly. For example, FIG. 7 is aflow diagram illustrating exemplary operations for updating acertificate's installation status. At operation 710, the service server125 receives confirmation from a proxy server that a certificate wassuccessfully installed. Next, at operation 715, the service server 125updates the certificate store 126 accordingly. For example, the serviceserver 125 marks the certificate as being installed in that proxyserver. Next, at operation 720, the service server 125 transmits anupdate to the DNS system 140 to announce the IP address of the proxyserver that resolves to the domain.

If there are proxy server(s) where the certificate(s) are not installed,then flow moves to operation 620 where the certificate(s) aretransmitted to those proxy servers. In one embodiment, only those proxyserver(s) that resolve to the domain(s) bound in the certificate(s) aresent the certificate(s), while in other embodiments each proxy server issent the certificate(s). If the certificate(s) are installed (or atleast the primary certificate) in each of the proxy server(s), then flowmoves to operation 625 and the service server 125 transmits a DNS update180 to the DNS system 140 to announce the IP address(es) of the proxyserver(s) that have installed the certificate.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations for a proxyserver to install a certificate according to one embodiment. Theoperations of FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the exemplaryembodiment of FIG. 1. However, it should be understood that theoperations of FIG. 8 can be performed by embodiments of the inventionother than those discussed with reference to FIG. 1, and the embodimentsdiscussed with reference to FIG. 1 can perform operations different thanthose discussed with reference to FIG. 8.

At operation 810, the proxy server 120 receives a certificate toinstall. For example, the proxy server 120 receives a certificate toinstall from the service server 125. Flow then moves to operation 812and the proxy server 120 determines whether the certificate is asecondary certificate (e.g., as opposed to a primary certificate). Inone embodiment, the proxy server 120 determines whether the certificateis a secondary certificate by evaluating the domain(s) that are bound tothe certificate. In another embodiment, the proxy server 120 marks anindication of whether a certificate is a primary certificate or othertype of certificate (e.g., a secondary certificate, a tertiarycertificate, etc.). If the certificate is bound only to a root domainand one or more of its subdomains, then the certificate is a secondarycertificate. In another embodiment, the service server 125 indicateswhether the certificate is a primary or secondary certificate whensending to the proxy server 120. If the certificate is a secondarycertificate, then flow moves to operation 910, which will be describedwith reference to FIG. 9, otherwise flow moves to operation 815. Inembodiments where a primary and secondary certificate are not used, theoperation 812 is not performed.

At operation 815, the proxy server 120 analyzes the certificate andretrieves the domain(s) that are bound to the certificate (e.g.,included in the SAN extension field of the certificate). Flow then movesto operation 820 and the proxy server 120 determines whether a versionof the certificate already exists. For example, the proxy server 120accesses its local certificate store 122 to determine whether a versionof the certificate already exists. For example, the proxy server 120 maycompare the serial number of the certificate received with serialnumbers of certificates already received. As another example, the proxyserver 120 may generate a hash of the certificate and compare theresulting hash value with previously generated hash values. If the proxyserver 120 does not have a version of the certificate, then flow movesto operation 835, otherwise flow moves to operation 825.

At operation 825, the proxy server 120 installs the certificate into thelocal certificate store 126. In one embodiment, the proxy server 120also associates one or more IP addresses with the certificate. Flow thenmoves to operation 830 and the proxy server 120 updates its web serverconfiguration to return the certificate for those domains bound in thecertificate. For example, the proxy server 120 updates its web serverconfiguration such that when receiving an SSL or TLS client-hellomessage at the IP address associated with the certificate, the proxyserver 120 will return the certificate that is associated with the IPaddress. Flow then moves from operation 830 to operation 860 and theproxy server 120 transmits a message to the service server 125 thatindicates that the certificate has been installed. The message may alsoindicate the IP address(es) that are associated with the certificate. Inone embodiment, the proxy server 120 transmits a DNS update to the DNSsystem 140 to announce the IP address(es) that resolve to the domain(s)bound in the certificate.

If a version of the certificate already exists, then at operation 835the proxy server 120 compares the domain names included in the previousversion of the certificate with the domain names (e.g., listed in theSAN extension field) included in the newly received version of thecertificate. Flow then moves to operation 840 where the proxy server 120determines whether there are new domain(s) present in the newly receivedcertificate version. If there are, then flow moves to operation 850 andthe proxy server 120 updates its web server configuration to return thecertificate for those new domains. Flow moves from operation 850 back tooperation 845.

If there are not new domain(s) present in the newly receivedcertificate, then flow moves to operation 845 and the proxy server 120determines whether there are domain(s) that have been removed from thenewly received certificate. If there are, then flow moves to operation855 and the proxy server 120 updates its web server configuration to notreturn the certificate for those removed domains. Flow then moves fromoperation 855 to operation 860. If there is not a new domain present inthe newly received certificate, then flow moves to operation 860.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed ata proxy server to install a secondary certificate according to oneembodiment. The operations of FIG. 9 will be described with reference tothe exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1. However, it should be understoodthat the operations of FIG. 9 can be performed by embodiments of theinvention other than those discussed with reference to FIG. 1, and theembodiments discussed with reference to FIG. 1 can perform operationsdifferent than those discussed with reference to FIG. 9.

At operation 910, the proxy server 120 analyzes the certificate andretrieves the domain(s) that are bound to the certificate (e.g.,included in the SAN extension field of the certificate). Flow then movesto operation 920 and the proxy server 120 determines whether a versionof the certificate already exists. For example, the proxy server 120accesses its local certificate store 122 to determine whether a versionof the certificate already exists. For example, the proxy server 120 maycompare the serial number of the certificate received with serialnumbers of certificates already received. As another example, the proxyserver 120 may generate a hash of the certificate and compare theresulting hash value with previously generated hash values. If the proxyserver 120 does not have a version of the certificate, then flow movesto operation 935, otherwise flow moves to operation 930.

At operation 925, the proxy server 120 installs the certificate into thelocal certificate store 126. In one embodiment, the proxy server 120associates the secondary certificate with a particular IP address, whilein other embodiments the proxy server 120 does not associate thesecondary certificate with an IP address. At operation 930, the proxyserver 120 replaces or updates the certificate in the local certificatestore with the received certificate.

Unlike the operations described with reference to FIG. 8, in oneembodiment the proxy server 120 does not automatically update its webserver configuration to return the secondary certificate. Instead, thesecondary certificate is used as a backup certificate in case of anattack on the IP address associated with the primary certificate or whenmoving the corresponding domain from a particular primary certificate toanother primary certificate.

Establishing Secure Sessions

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed bya proxy server for establishing and using secure sessions in acloud-based proxy service according to one embodiment. The operations ofFIG. 10 will be described with reference to the exemplary embodiment ofFIG. 1. However, it should be understood that the operations of FIG. 10can be performed by embodiments of the invention other than thosediscussed with reference to FIG. 1, and the embodiments discussed withreference to FIG. 1 can perform operations different than thosediscussed with reference to FIG. 10.

At operation 1010, the proxy server 120 receives a request for a securesession from a client device 110. For example, the proxy server 120receives an SSL or TLS client-hello message from the client device 110.The request may be received at the proxy server 120 as a result of DNSfor the domain resolving to the proxy server 120. Next flow moves tooperation 1020 and the proxy server 120 determines whether the requestfor the secure session identifies the destination host name. Forexample, the request will identify the destination host name if itincludes the SNI extension supported by TLS. If the request does notidentify the destination host name (e.g., if the client-hello messagedoes not include the SNI extension), then flow moves to operation 1035.If the request identifies the destination, flow moves to operation 1020.

At block 1020, the proxy server 120 returns the certificate bound to thedestination identified in the request to the requesting client device110. For example, the proxy server 120 accesses the certificate store122 to retrieve the certificate that is bound to the destinationidentified in the request and transmits that certificate to therequesting client device 110. In one embodiment, the certificate isbound only to the destination domain identified in the request (e.g., itdoes not have other domains in the SAN extension of the certificate). Inother embodiments, the certificate may also be bound to other domains.For example, the certificate may include a wildcard to enable multiplesub-domains to use the same certificate (e.g., *.example.com may be usedto secure blog.example.com, mail.example.com, etc.). As another example,the certificate may include other domains in the SAN extension of thecertificate, which may or may not be owned or operated by the samedomain owner. Flow moves from operation 1020 to operation 1025, wherethe proxy server 120 stores the requested destination host name inassociation with the secure session. Flow then moves to operation 1030.

At operation 1030, the proxy server 120 completes the secure sessionnegotiation with the client device 110. For example, the proxy server120 and the client device 110 determine the cryptographic protocol usedfor the encryption, establish session keys for the secure connection,etc. Flow moves from operation 1030 to operation 1045.

At operation 1035 (the request for the secure session does not identifythe destination host name), the proxy server 120 returns the certificateassociated with the destination IP address of the request. For example,the proxy server 120 accesses the certificate store 122 to retrieve thecertificate that is associated with the destination IP address of thesecure session request and transmits that certificate to the requestingclient device 110. In one embodiment, the certificate is bound tomultiple domains, which may or may not belong to different domainowners. For example, the certificate may include a number of domains inthe Subject Alternate Name (SAN) field of the certificate. Flow movesfrom operation to operation 1035 where the proxy server 120 completesthe secure session negotiation with the client device 110. For example,the proxy server 120 and the client device 110 determine thecryptographic protocol used for the encryption, establish session keysfor the secure connection, etc. Flow moves from operation 1030 tooperation 1045.

At operation 1045, the proxy server 120 receives an encrypted requestfrom the client device 110 (e.g., an HTTPS request). The encryptedrequest was encrypted using the certificate the proxy server 120returned. Next, at operation 1050, the proxy server 120 decrypts theencrypted request. Decrypting the encrypted request, among other things,allows the proxy server 120 to determine the destination host, which isindicated in the Host header of the request.

Flow then moves to operation 1055, where the proxy server 120 determineswhether the destination historically does not support secure sessions(e.g., whether the connection between the proxy server and the originserver 130 corresponding to the destination can be encrypted using SSLor TLS). For example, the proxy server 120 accesses the support securesession data store 124 to determine whether the origin server 130corresponding to the destination host name has previously supportedsecure sessions. The support secure session store 124 may also indicatethe type of secure session supported by the origin server (e.g., SSL,TLS, versions of SSL or TLS, etc.). In one embodiment, the supportsecure session store 124 is populated in an offline process thatperiodically checks whether the origin server supports secure sessionsby attempting to establish a secure session and recording the outcome.If the proxy server 120 determines that the destination origin server130 historically does not support secure sessions, then flow moves tooperation 1090, otherwise flow moves to operation 1060.

At operation 1060, the proxy server 120 requests a secure session withthe origin server 130. In one embodiment, the secure session requestidentifies the destination host name. For example, the proxy server 120transmits a TLS client-hello message that includes the SNI extensionthat identifies the destination host name to the origin server 130 torequest the secure session. Including the SNI extension in theclient-hello message allows the hosting provider to implement name-basedvirtual hosting and return the appropriate certificate for that host. Inthis way, even if client devices 110 do not support TLS with the SNIextension (e.g., they are running older browsers and/or operatingsystems that do not support TLS with SNI), the proxy server 120 cansupport a secure connection between it and the client device 110 whilesimultaneously supporting a secure session with the origin server 130with the SNI extension so name-based virtual hosting can be reliably besupported by the origin server 130.

Flow then moves to operation 1065, where the proxy server 120 determineswhether it receives an error message (e.g., the server did not respond)or otherwise the secure session negotiation failed. If the proxy server120 receives an error message or the secure session negotiation hasotherwise failed, then flow moves to operation 1095 and the proxy server120 updates the support secure session data store 124 that thedestination does not support secure sessions. Flow moves from operation1095 back to operation 1090.

If the proxy server 120 does not receive an error message, then flowmoves to operation 1070 where the proxy server 120 receives acertificate from the origin server 130 (e.g., in an SSL or TLSserver-hello message). In one embodiment the proxy server 120 ignoresvalidation errors associated with the certificate received from theorigin server 130. This allows the origin server 130 to return acertificate that may not be bound to the destination domain identifiedin the secure session request, return an expired certificate, and/orreturn a self-signed certificate. Of course, the certificate may bebound to the destination domain identified in the secure sessionrequest, be issued by a Certificate Authority, and not be expired.

Flow then moves to operation 1075 and the proxy server 120 completes thesecure session negotiation with the origin server 130. For example, theproxy server 120 and the origin server 130 determine the cryptographicprotocol used for the encryption, establish session keys for the secureconnection, etc. After the secure session negotiation is established,traffic between the proxy server 120 and the origin server 130 can beencrypted. Flow moves from operation 1075 to operation 1080.

At operation 1080, the proxy server 120 encrypts the request that wasdecrypted in operation 1050 using the certificate provided by the originserver 130. Next, the proxy server 120 transmits the encrypted requestto the origin server 130 at operation 1085. The origin server 130responds with an encrypted response that the proxy server 120 decrypts.The proxy server 120 then encrypts that response according to the securesession established with the client device 110 and transmits thatencrypted response to the client device 110.

Referring back to operation 1055, if the destination historically doesnot support secure sessions, then flow moves to operation 1090 and theproxy server 120 transmits the request to the origin server 130unencrypted. Thus, in some instances the service supports apartial-secure connection (secure from the client device to the proxyserver and unsecure from the proxy server and the origin server). Thismay be useful in that some domain owners (particularly domain ownerswith small sites) have difficulty in installing a certificate that canbe used between the proxy server and their origin server.

FIG. 11 is a data flow diagram that illustrates exemplary operations forestablishing and using secure sessions in a cloud-based proxy serviceaccording to one embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the originserver 130 is performing virtual hosting and includes the virtual host A1130A to virtual host N 1130N which are associated with the certificates1140A to 1140N respectively. For purposes of FIG. 11, the origin server130 is performing name-based virtual hosting such that the virtual hostsA-N 1130A-N share the same IP address.

The client device 110 initiates a secure session with the proxy server120 by transmitting an SSL client-hello message to the proxy server 120at operation 1. The SSL client-hello message is directed to the proxyserver 120 as a result of a requested domain resolving to the proxyserver 120. The SSL client-hello message does not indicate thedestination host name. The SSL client-hello message has a destination IPaddress of 192.0.2.0, which is at least one of the IP addresses thatpoints to the proxy server 120. At operation 2, the proxy server 120retrieves the certificate that is associated with IP address 192.0.2.0.The certificate may be bound to multiple domains through use of awildcard identifier and/or inclusion of multiple domains in thecertificate's SAN extension field. Next, at operation 3, the proxyserver 120 transmits an SSL server-hello message that includes thecertificate associated with IP address 192.0.2.0. The client device 110and the proxy server 120 negotiate other SSL parameters at operation 4in order to establish the secure connection 160 (e.g., negotiate thecryptographic protocol for the encryption, establish session keys forthe secure connection, etc.).

At operation 5, the client device 110 transmits an encrypted request(e.g., HTTPS request) to the proxy server 120 over the secure connection160. The proxy server 120 decrypts the request and determines that thedestination host (e.g., by analyzing the Host header field of therequest) is hosted at the origin server 130 at operation 6. For thisexample, the destination host corresponds with the virtual host A 1130A.Next, at operation 7, the proxy server 120 transmits a TLS client-hellomessage that includes an SNI extension field that identifies the virtualhost A 1130A as the destination to the origin server 130.

Since the TLS client-hello message identifies the destination host, theorigin server 130 retrieves the certificate bound to that destinationhost 1130A (the certificate 1140A) at operation 8. At operation 9, theorigin server 130 transmits a TLS server-hello message that includes thecertificate 1140A to the proxy server 120. The proxy server 120 and theorigin server 130 negotiate other TLS parameters at operation 10 toestablish the secure connection 160 (e.g., negotiate the cryptographicprotocol for the encryption, establish session keys for the secureconnection, etc.).

At operation 11, the proxy server 120 transmits an encrypted request(HTTPS) to the origin server 130 over the secure connection 166. Theencrypted request is based on the request received from the clientdevice in operation 5. For example, if the request received from theclient is for example.com/index.html (which is hosted by the originserver 130), the proxy server 120 transmits an encrypted request forexample.com/index.html to the origin server 130. At operation 12, theorigin server 130 transmits an encrypted response to the proxy server120 over the secure connection 166. The proxy server 120, in turn,decrypts the response and encrypts it for transmission to the clientdevice 110 at operation 13. In one embodiment, the proxy server 120 alsocaches the requested content such that future requests for that contentmay be served from its cache. At operation 14, the proxy server 120transmits the encrypted response to the client device 110 over thesecure connection 160.

While FIG. 11 illustrates a secure session between the client device 110and the proxy server 120 and a secure session between the proxy server120 and the origin server 130, in some embodiments there is only asecure session between the client device 110 and the proxy server 120.In such embodiments, the proxy server 120 transmits the request (e.g.,the request as decrypted in operation 6) to the origin server 130unencrypted.

Managing Certificates Bound with Multiple Different Domains

As described above, in some embodiments multiple different domains arebound to the same certificate each sharing the same IP address. As aresult, an attack (e.g., denial of service (DoS), distributed DoS(DDos), etc.) on one of the domains affects the services of the otherdomains. For example, if example1.com and example2.com are bound to thesame certificate each sharing the same IP address (example1.com andexample2.com both resolve to the same IP address), an attack onexample1.com may affect the services on example2.com.

After detecting an attack on an IP address that is associated with acertificate that is bound with multiple different domains, the proxyserver 120 accesses the secondary certificate(s) of the multipledifferent domains and associates each of them with a unique IP address.The proxy server 120 updates its web server configuration for eachsecondary certificate such that when receiving an SSL or TLSclient-hello message at the IP address associated with that certificate,the proxy server 120 will return that certificate. The DNS system 140 isupdated such that the domains in the secondary certificates resolve tothe appropriate IP addresses. In one embodiment, the proxy server 120transmits one or more messages to the service server 125 to report thatdomain(s) new IP addresses, which in turn updates the DNS system 140. Inanother embodiment, the proxy server 120 updates the DNS system 140.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations performed ona proxy server for responding to an attack on a particular IP addressaccording to one embodiment. At operation 1210, the proxy server 120detects that there is an attack on a particular IP address of the proxyserver 120. The attack may include, for example, a denial of serviceattack (DoS) or distributed denial of service (DDos) attack on the IPaddress. Next, the proxy server 120 determines whether the IP address isassociated with a certificate that is bound with multiple differentdomains at operation 1215 (e.g., the IP address is associated with acertificate that is bound with example1.com and example2.com). If the IPaddress is associated with such a certificate, then flow moves tooperation 1220, otherwise flow moves to operation 1225 where correctiveaction is taken (e.g., the traffic to that IP address is throttled, thetraffic to that IP address is routed to dedicated hardware to mitigatethe attack, the traffic to that IP address is routed to a particulardata center that is dedicated for attacks, the IP address may benull-routed, the DNS records can be changed such that the domainresolves to the IP address of the origin server, etc.).

At operation 1220, the proxy server 120 accesses the secondarycertificate(s) of the domain(s) bound in the certificate. In oneembodiment, the proxy server 120 accesses the local certificate store122 to access the secondary certificate(s). In another embodiment, theproxy server 120 requests the secondary certificate(s) from a centrallocation (e.g., from the service server 125). Flow then moves tooperation 1230.

At operation 1230, the proxy server 120 associates each secondarycertificate with a different IP address. Thus, the proxy server 120associates each secondary certificate with its own unique IP address.Flow then moves to operation 1235 where, for each of the accessedsecondary certificates, the proxy server 120 updates its web serverconfiguration to return that certificate for that certificate's bounddomain(s). For example, the proxy server 120 updates its web serverconfiguration for each certificate such that when receiving an SSL orTLS client-hello message at the IP address associated with thatcertificate, the proxy server 120 will return that certificate. Updatingthe web server configuration also includes an update to not return thecertificate that was associated with the IP address experiencing theattack.

Flow then moves from operation 1235 to operation 1240 and the proxyserver 120 transmits one or more messages to the service server 125 thatindicates that the certificate(s) have been installed. The message(s)may also indicate for each certificate the IP address(es) that areassociated with those certificates. The service server 125 in turntransmits a DNS update to the DNS system to announce the IP address(es)that resolve to the domain(s) bound in the certificate. In analternative embodiment, for each certificate, the proxy server 120transmits a DNS update to the DNS system 140 to announce the IPaddress(es) that resolve to the domain(s) bound in that certificate.

Flow then moves to operation 1245, where the proxy server 120 isolatesthe attack to a particular domain. Since each of the root domains andits subdomains is now on its own IP address (e.g., example1.com andexample2.com no longer resolve to the same IP address), the attack mayfollow the domain on its new IP address. Thus, by separating the domainsand assigning each a separate IP address, the domain that is beingattacked can be isolated. Flow then moves to operation 1225 wherecorrective action is taken.

While FIG. 12 describes an attack scenario, in one embodiment thesecondary certificates can be used when moving a domain from onecertificate to another certificate. A domain may be moved from onecertificate to another certificate for a number of reasons. For example,the content of the domain may change thereby necessitating a certificatechange (e.g., a domain whose content changes to adult content may bemoved to a certificate that is bound with domains that also displayadult content). As another example, the owner of the domain may changewhich may cause that domain to be grouped into another certificate.

FIGS. 13A-B are flow diagrams that illustrate exemplary operations formoving a domain from one certificate to another certificate according toone embodiment. At operation 1310, the service server 125 determines tochange a domain (either a root domain or a subdomain) from onecertificate to another certificate. For purposes of this figure, thedomain example1.com is to be changed to another certificate. Thedecision to change a domain to another certificate may result from arequest from a domain owner, a re-categorization of the content of thedomain, a change in domain ownership, for load balancing purposes, aresult of the domain being blocked by a government or network provider,a change in the account type of the domain owner (e.g., a change to anaccount type that specifies the certificate is to be on its owndedicated IP address), or other reason.

Flow then moves to operation 1320 where the service server 125determines whether a secondary certificate has been established for thedomain. For example, the service server 125 accesses the certificatestore 126 to determine whether a secondary certificate exists forexample1.com. If a secondary certificate is not established for thedomain, then flow moves to operation 1325 where the service server 125causes a secondary certificate to be created. For example, the serviceserver 125 submits a request to the Certificate Authority 128 for acertificate bound with the domain. The request may be for the rootdomain (e.g., example1.com) and a wildcard covering each subdomain ofthe root domain (e.g., *.example1.com). The Certificate Authority 128may perform a validation procedure for the domain as previouslydescribed. Assuming that validation is successful, the CertificateAuthority 128 transmits a certificate bound with the requested domainsto the service server 125. The service server 125 then causes thesecondary certificate to be installed in the certificate store 126. Flowthen moves to operation 1335.

If a secondary certificate is established for that domain, then flowmoves to operation 1330 where the service server 125 determines whetherthat secondary certificate is installed on the proxy server(s) in whichthe original primary certificate is installed and enabled. For example,the service server 125 determines whether the secondary certificatebound with example1.com, is installed on the proxy server(s) that haveIP addresses associated with certificate A. If the secondary certificateis not installed, then flow moves to operation 1335, otherwise flowmoves to operation 1340. At operation 1335, the service server 125transmits the secondary certificate to be installed on at least thoseproxy server(s) in which the original primary certificate is installedand enabled and have not installed the secondary certificate. Next, flowmoves to operation 1340.

At operation 1340, the service server 125 instructs the proxy server(s)to enable the secondary certificate for the domain. For example, theservice server 125 transmits a message to the proxy server(s) indicatingthat it should enable the secondary certificates for example1.com.Enabling the secondary certificate includes the proxy server(s)associating each secondary certificate with a unique IP address (if notalready associated) and updating their web server configurationaccordingly to return the secondary certificate. For example, a proxyserver updates its web server configuration such that when receiving anSSL or TLS client-hello message at an IP address uniquely associatedwith a secondary certificate, the proxy server will return thatsecondary certificate. Flow then moves to operation 1345.

At operation 1345, the service server 125 receives confirmation from theproxy server(s) that the secondary certificate was installed andenabled. The confirmation may also include the IP address(es) associatedwith the domain(s) bound in the secondary certificate. The serviceserver 125 may update the certificate store 126 accordingly. Forexample, the service server 125 marks the secondary certificate as beinginstalled and enabled on the proxy server(s).

Flow then moves to operation 1350 and the service server 125 transmitsan update to the DNS system 140 such that the domain(s) bound in thesecondary certificate resolves to the IP address(es) associated with thesecondary certificate. Flow then moves to operation 1355 where theservice server 125 determines which certificate to move the domain to.In one embodiment, the service server 125 performs one or more of theclustering procedures described in FIG. 3 when determining whichcertificate the domain should be moved to. By way of example, theservice server 125 determines to move the domain example1.com fromcertificate A to certificate B. Next, flow moves to operation 1360 andthe service server 125 transmits one or more update requests (e.g., aSAN update request) to the Certificate Authority 128 to remove thedomain from its current certificate (e.g., remove example1.com fromcertificate A) and add that domain to another certificate (e.g., addexample1.com to certificate B).

Flow moves from operation 1360 to operation 1365 where the serviceserver 125 receives the result of the update request from theCertificate Authority 128. Assuming that the update request wassuccessful, the service server 125 will receive a certificate with thedomain removed (e.g., certificate A′) and receive a certificate with thedomain added (e.g., certificate B′). The service server 125 installs thedigital certificates in the certificate store 126. Next, at operation1370, the service server 125 transmits the certificates to be installedon one or more proxy servers. The service server 125 then instructsthose proxy server(s) to enable the certificates at operation 1375.Enabling the certificates includes the proxy server(s) installing intotheir local certificate store 122, associating an IP address with eachof the certificates (if one does not already exist), and updating theirweb server configuration accordingly. For example, the web serverconfiguration is updated such that when receiving an SSL or TLSclient-hello message at the IP address associated with certificate A′(which is bound with the domains example2.com and example3.com),certificate A′ will be returned, and when receiving an SSL or TLSclient-hello message at the IP address associated with certificate B′(which is bound with the domain example1.com and may also be bound withother domains), certificate B′ will be returned. The proxy server(s) mayalso remove update their web server configuration to stop returning thesecondary certificate for the domain example1.com. Flow moves fromoperation 1375 to operation 1380.

At operation 1380, the service server 125 receives confirmation from theproxy server(s) that the certificate(s) (e.g., certificates A′ and B′)were installed and enabled. The confirmation may also include the IPaddress(es) associated with the domain(s) bound in the certificates. Theservice server 125 may update the certificate store 126 accordingly. Forexample, the service server 125 marks the certificates as beinginstalled and enabled on the proxy server(s).

Flow then moves to operation 1350 and the service server 125 transmitsan update to the DNS system 140 such that the domain(s) moved to theother certificate resolve to the IP address(es) associated with thatother certificate.

While FIG. 13 describes operations performed in a particular order, itshould be understood that such order is exemplary and alternativeembodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combinecertain operations, overlap certain operations, etc. For example, theservice server 125 may request the certificate updates from theCertificate Authority 128 to change a domain from one certificate toanother prior or concurrently with instructing the proxy server(s) toenable the secondary certificate bound with that domain.

While FIG. 13 describes operations that use a secondary certificate as atemporary certificate, in other embodiments a secondary certificate isnot used. For example, in one embodiment, responsive to determining tomove a domain from a certificate to another certificate, the serviceserver 125 transmits one or more update requests to the CertificateAuthority 128 to remove the domain from its current certificate and addthe domain to another certificate. The proxy server(s) continue to usethe current certificates (the current certificate that is bound with thedomain that is being removed and the current certificate that the domainis being added to) while the Certificate Authority 128 issues newcertificates that reflect the changes. After the Certificate Authority128 has issued new certificates that reflect the change, the serviceserver 125 causes those new certificates to be installed and enabled atthe proxy server(s). In addition, the DNS records are updated to reflectthat the domain being moved.

While FIG. 13 describes operations performed when moving a domain fromone certificate to another, similar operations are performed whenremoving a domain from one or more certificates. For example, responsiveto determining to remove a domain from a certificate (e.g., the domainowner has indicated that they no longer require or want secure sessioncapability), the service server 125 transmits an update request to theCertificate Authority 128 to remove that domain from the certificate.After the Certificate Authority 128 has issued a certificate thatreflects the removal of the domain, the service server 125 causes thecertificate to be installed and enabled at one or more proxy servers. Inone embodiment, the proxy server(s) continue to use the currentcertificate that is still bound with the domain (if there are otherdomains also bound to that certificate) until receiving an updatedversion of the certificate where the domain is removed. In anotherembodiment, the proxy server(s) switch to secondary certificate(s) foreach of the other domains in the certificate until receiving an updatedversion of the primary certificate where the domain is removed.

Host Header Override

In certain circumstances, a domain owner may have an application orother aspect of their website hosted by a data center or other thirdparty. The data center may host the application or other aspect of thewebsite at a subdomain of the data center or third party. For example, ahosting provider with a domain hostingprovider.com may host anapplication or other aspect of a customer's website atcustomerexample.hostingprovider.com. However, the customer may want itto appear that that the application is located at their custom domain(e.g., customerexample.com). The customer may do this by using a CNAMErecord in their DNS records to point their custom domain to the domainprovided by the hosting provider.

In regards to secure session capability, many of these hosting providerscreate a wildcard certificate that is bound with each of the subdomainsof the different customers (e.g., *.hostingprovider.com). If the securesession negotiation is initially requested by a client networkapplication that does not support SNI and is for the custom domain(e.g., https://customerexample.com), the hosting provider's server willreturn the wildcard certificate, which may cause the client networkapplication to display an error due to the domains being bound in thewildcard certificate (e.g., *.hostingprovider.com) not matching therequested domain (e.g., customerexample.com).

Hosting providers may make their routing decision based on the host nameand may not recognize the custom domain. For example, the hostingprovider origin server may include multiple virtual servers where thehostname is provided by the hosting provider (e.g.,customerexample1.hostingprovider.com,customerexample2.hostingprovider.com, etc.), and may not recognize thecustom domain (e.g., customerexample.com). As a result, when the hostingprovider origin server receives a request (e.g., an HTTP request) thatincludes a hostname that does not correspond to one of its virtualservers or decrypts an encrypted request (e.g., an HTTPs request) anddetermines that the hostname does not correspond to one of its virtualservers, it may return an error message or redirect the visitor to adifferent page.

In some embodiments of the invention, a domain owner registers to havetheir Host header overridden by the proxy server for certain domains.For example, the service server 125 allows the domain owner to specifyan alternative host header to support connecting to a specific originserver. By way of example, the domain owner of customerexample.com mayspecify an alternative domain (e.g.,customerexample.hostingprovider.com) for the proxy server to insert inthe Host header field responsive to receiving a request directed at theoriginal Host header field. In some embodiments, the service server 125may query the customer to specify an alternative Host header upondetermining that the customer has a CNAME record to a domain of ahosting provider that commonly requires a subdomain that issued to beused.

The proxy server(s) are configured with the alternative Host header suchthat receiving a request directed to the original Host header filed, itchanges the Host header to the alternative Host header and issues therequest to the origin server.

The response from the hosting provider origin server may include adomain in the SetCookie header of the response. The domain is typicallyeither the root domain of the hosting provider (e.g.,hostingprovider.com) or the subdomain hosting the application or content(e.g., customerexample1.hostingprovider.com). However, since theoriginal request from the client device is directed to the customer'scustom domain (e.g., customerexample.com), the cookie will not be storedsince the domains do not match. In one embodiment, responsive toreceiving a response from an origin server that includes a domain set inthe SetCookie header, the proxy server changes the domain to thecustomer's custom domain in the SetCookie header prior to transmittingthat response to the requesting client device. In another embodiment,responsive to receiving a response from an origin server that includes adomain set in the SetCookie header, the proxy server removes the domainfrom the SetCookie header prior to transmitting that response to therequesting client device.

FIG. 14 illustrates exemplary operations for supporting secure sessionsin a cloud-based proxy service with Host header field override accordingto one embodiment. At operation 1410, the proxy server 120 receives asecure session initiation request from a client device 110. The requestmay be received at the proxy server 120 as a result of DNS for therequested domain resolving to the proxy server 120. The secureinitiation request may be an SSL client-hello message or may be a TLSclient-hello message.

Next, at operation 1415, the proxy server 120 transmits to the clientdevice 110 the certificate that is associated with the IP address thatthe secure initiation request was directed (e.g., in a TLS or SSLserver-hello message). The proxy server 120 and the client device 110also negotiate other parameters for the secure session (e.g., negotiatethe cryptographic protocol for the encryption, establish session keysfor the secure connection, etc.).

Next, at operation 1420, the proxy server 120 receives an encryptedrequest (e.g., an HTTPS request) from the client device 110 over thesecure session. Flow then moves to operation 1425 and the proxy server120 decrypts the request and determines that the destination host (e.g.,by analyzing the Host header field of the request) is subject to beingoverridden to the alternate Host header field. For example, the proxyserver 120 decrypts the request to determine that the hostname (asindicated in the Host header field) is customerexample.com, anddetermines that customerexample.com is to be overridden withcustomerexample.hostingprovider.com.

Flow then moves to operation 1430, and the proxy server 120 transmits aTLS client-hello message that includes an SNI extension field thatidentifies the alternate hostname (e.g.,customerexample.hostingprovider.com) as the destination to the originserver 130. The origin server 130 retrieves the certificate bound to thedestination host and at operation 1435, the proxy server 120 receives aTLS server-hello message with that certificate. The proxy server 120 andthe origin server 130 also negotiate other TLS parameters at operationto establish the secure connection between the proxy server 120 and theorigin server 130 (e.g., negotiate the cryptographic protocol for theencryption, establish session keys for the secure connection, etc.).Flow then moves to operation 1440.

At operation 1440, the proxy server 120 changes the Host header field ofthe request to the alternate host header. For example, the proxy server120 changes the Host header to be customerexample.hostingprovider.com.Flow then moves to operation 1445 and the proxy server 120 encrypts therequest and transmits the encrypted request (e.g., HTTPS) to the originserver 130. The origin server 130 will receive the encrypted request,decrypt the request, and determine that the destination host is hostedat the origin server 130 (e.g., one of the virtual servers). The requestis then routed to that virtual server for processing. Thus, even thoughthe original request is directed to a custom domain that would not besupported by the hosting provider, the proxy server overrides the Hostheader field in the original request to a subdomain provided by thehosting provider when transmitting the request to the hosting provider'sorigin server. The origin server then processes the request accordinglyand prepares an encrypted response.

Flow then moves to operation 1450 and the proxy server 120 receives anencrypted response from the origin server 130. Next, the proxy server120 decrypts the response and encrypts it for transmission to the clientdevice 110 at operation 1455. In one embodiment, the proxy server 120also caches the requested content such that future requests for thatcontent may be served from its cache. Next, at operation 1460, the proxyserver 120 transmits the encrypted response to the client device 110.

While FIG. 11 illustrates a secure session between the client device 110and the proxy server 120 and a secure session between the proxy server120 and the origin server 130, in some embodiments there is only asecure session between the client device 110 and the proxy server 120.In such embodiments, the proxy server 120 modifies the Host header ofthe request (e.g., after decrypting the request received in operation1420) according to the Host header override value and transmits therequest with the modified Host header to the origin server 130unencrypted.

While embodiments have been described with reference to a third partyCertificate Authority, in some embodiments the service acts as its ownCertificate Authority and issues its own certificates. For example, insuch embodiments, the service server 125 issues certificates for theconnection 160. In such embodiments, since the customer is alreadyvalidated during registration for the cloud-based proxy service, theservice server 125 may not also need to validate the customer for securesession capability (thus the operations described with reference to FIG.4 or 5 may not be performed).

In some embodiments, the proxy server 120 maintains a cache of contentthat it may serve to the requesting client devices. In such embodiments,responsive to decrypting the request (e.g., after operation 6 of FIG.11), the proxy server 120 determines whether the requested resource isavailable in cache and has not expired. If it is, then the proxy server120 can transmit the encrypted response with the requested contentwithout establishing a session with the origin server 130 (either secureor otherwise) and requesting the content from the origin server 130.

While embodiments have been described with reference to a service serverperforming many of the operations including managing certificates,requesting/receiving certificates from the Certificate Authority,updating the DNS records, etc., embodiments are not so limited. Forexample, in some embodiments, a proxy server performs one or more ofthese operations directly.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, the computer system 1500, which is a form ofa data processing system, includes the bus(es) 1550 which is coupledwith the processing system 1520, power supply 1525, memory 1530, and thenonvolatile memory 1540 (e.g., a hard drive, flash memory, Phase-ChangeMemory (PCM), etc.). The bus(es) 1550 may be connected to each otherthrough various bridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well knownin the art. The processing system 1520 may retrieve instruction(s) fromthe memory 1530 and/or the nonvolatile memory 1540, and execute theinstructions to perform operations described herein. The bus 1550interconnects the above components together and also interconnects thosecomponents to the display controller & display device 1570, Input/Outputdevices 1580 (e.g., NIC (Network Interface Card), a cursor control(e.g., mouse, touchscreen, touchpad, etc.), a keyboard, etc.), and thewireless transceiver(s) 1590 (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, Infrared, etc.).One or more of the components of the computer system 1500 may beoptional (e.g., the display controller and display device 1570, I/Odevices 1580, the wireless transceiver(s) 1590, etc.). In oneembodiment, the client devices 110A-I, the service server 125, the proxyserver 120, and/or the origin servers 130A-L can take the form of thecomputer system 2700.

The techniques shown in the figures can be implemented using code anddata stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (e.g., aclient device, a proxy server, an origin server, a service server). Suchelectronic devices store and communicate (internally and/or with otherelectronic devices over a network) code and data using computer-readablemedia, such as non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g.,magnetic disks; optical disks; random access memory; read only memory;flash memory devices; phase-change memory) and transitorycomputer-readable communication media (e.g., electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals—such as carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals). In addition, such electronic devicestypically include a set of one or more processors coupled to one or moreother components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitorymachine-readable storage media), user input/output devices (e.g., akeyboard, a touchscreen, and/or a display), and network connections. Thecoupling of the set of processors and other components is typicallythrough one or more busses and bridges (also termed as bus controllers).Thus, the storage device of a given electronic device typically storescode and/or data for execution on the set of one or more processors ofthat electronic device. Of course, one or more parts of an embodiment ofthe invention may be implemented using different combinations ofsoftware, firmware, and/or hardware.

While the flow diagrams in the figures show a particular order ofoperations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it shouldbe understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternativeembodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combinecertain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is notlimited to the embodiments described, can be practiced with modificationand alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Thedescription is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method in a proxy server, comprising: receivinga first secure session request from a first client device for a securesession, wherein the first secure session request is received at theproxy server as a result of a DNS (Domain Name System) request for afirst domain resolving to an IP address of the proxy server, wherein thefirst domain is one of a plurality of domains that resolve to the IPaddress of the proxy server, and wherein the first secure sessionrequest does not include a name of the first domain; retrieving adigital certificate associated with the IP address of the proxy server,wherein the digital certificate is bound to the first domain and a setof one or more other domains; participating in a secure sessionnegotiation with the first client device including transmitting thedigital certificate to the first client device and establishing sessionkeys for the secure session between the first client device and theproxy server; after establishing the secure session between the firstclient device and the proxy server, receiving an encrypted first requestfrom the first client device for an action to be performed on aresource; decrypting the encrypted first request using at least some ofthe established session keys for the secure session between the firstclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedfirst request, that the first domain is a destination of the firstrequest; participating in a secure session negotiation with a firstorigin server that hosts the first domain including, transmitting to thefirst origin server a Transport Layer Security (TLS) client hellomessage that includes a name of the first domain, receiving a digitalcertificate from the first origin server, and establishing session keysfor a secure session between the proxy server and the first originserver; after establishing a secure session between the proxy server andthe first origin server, encrypting the decrypted first request usingthe at least some of the established session keys for the secure sessionbetween the proxy server and the first origin server; and transmitting,to the first origin server, the encrypted first request that wasencrypted using at least some of the established session keys for thesecure session between the proxy server and the first origin server. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second securesession request from a second client device for a secure session betweenthe second client device and the proxy server, wherein the second securesession request is received at the proxy server as a result of a DNSrequest for a second domain resolving to the IP address of the proxyserver, wherein the second domain is one of the plurality of domainsthat resolve to the IP address of the proxy server; participating in asecure session negotiation with the second client device includingtransmitting the digital certificate to the second client device,wherein the second domain is one of the set of other domains of whichthe digital certificate is bound and establishing session keys for thesecure session between the second client device and the proxy server;after establishing the secure session between the second client deviceand the proxy server, receiving an encrypted second request from thesecond client device for an action to be performed on a resource;decrypting the encrypted second request using at least some of theestablished session keys for the secure session between the secondclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedsecond request, that the second domain is a destination of the secondrequest; and transmitting the decrypted second request unencrypted to asecond origin server that hosts the second domain.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the domains bound to the digital certificatetransmitted to the first client device each share a root domain.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the domains bound to the digital certificatetransmitted to the first client device are each owned or operated by asame domain owner.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the domains boundto the digital certificate transmitted to the first client device eachhost content in a same category of content.
 6. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, causes said processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving a first secure session request from a first clientdevice for a secure session, wherein the first secure session request isreceived at the proxy server as a result of a DNS (Domain Name System)request for a first domain resolving to an IP address of the proxyserver, wherein the first domain is one of a plurality of domains thatresolve to the IP address of the proxy server, and wherein the firstsecure session request does not include a name of the first domain;retrieving a digital certificate associated with the IP address of theproxy server, wherein the digital certificate is bound to the firstdomain and a set of one or more other domains; participating in a securesession negotiation with the first client device including transmittingthe digital certificate to the first client device and establishingsession keys for the secure session between the first client device andthe proxy server; after establishing the secure session between thefirst client device and the proxy server, receiving an encrypted firstrequest from the first client device for an action to be performed on aresource; decrypting the encrypted first request using at least some ofthe established session keys for the secure session between the firstclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedfirst request, that the first domain is a destination of the firstrequest; participating in a secure session negotiation with a firstorigin server that hosts the first domain including, transmitting to thefirst origin server a Transport Layer Security (TLS) client hellomessage that includes a name of the first domain, receiving a digitalcertificate from the first origin server, and establishing session keysfor a secure session between the proxy server and the first originserver; after establishing a secure session between the proxy server andthe first origin server, encrypting the decrypted first request usingthe at least some of the established session keys for the secure sessionbetween the proxy server and the first origin server; and transmitting,to the first origin server, the encrypted first request that wasencrypted using at least some of the established session keys for thesecure session between the proxy server and the first origin server. 7.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, furthercomprising instructions, that when executed by the processor, causessaid processor to perform the operations comprising: receiving a secondsecure session request from a second client device for a secure sessionbetween the second client device and the proxy server, wherein thesecond secure session request is received at the proxy server as aresult of a DNS request for a second domain resolving to the IP addressof the proxy server, wherein the second domain is one of the pluralityof domains that resolve to the IP address of the proxy server;participating in a secure session negotiation with the second clientdevice including transmitting the digital certificate to the secondclient device, wherein the second domain is one of the set of otherdomains of which the digital certificate is bound and establishingsession keys for the secure session between the second client device andthe proxy server; after establishing the secure session between thesecond client device and the proxy server, receiving an encrypted secondrequest from the second client device for an action to be performed on aresource; decrypting the encrypted second request using at least some ofthe established session keys for the secure session between the secondclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedsecond request, that the second domain is a destination of the secondrequest; and transmitting the decrypted second request unencrypted to asecond origin server that hosts the second domain.
 8. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the domains boundto the digital certificate transmitted to the first client device eachshare a root domain.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 6, wherein the domains bound to the digital certificatetransmitted to the first client device are each owned or operated by asame domain owner.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 6, wherein the domains bound to the digital certificatetransmitted to the first client device each host content in a samecategory of content.
 11. An apparatus, comprising: a set of one or moreprocessors; a set of one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage mediums storing instructions, that when executed by the set ofprocessors, cause the set of processors to perform the followingoperations: receiving a first secure session request from a first clientdevice for a secure session, wherein the first secure session request isreceived at the proxy server as a result of a DNS (Domain Name System)request for a first domain resolving to an IP address of the proxyserver, wherein the first domain is one of a plurality of domains thatresolve to the IP address of the proxy server, and wherein the firstsecure session request does not include a name of the first domain;retrieving a digital certificate associated with the IP address of theproxy server, wherein the digital certificate is bound to the firstdomain and a set of one or more other domains; participating in a securesession negotiation with the first client device including transmittingthe digital certificate to the first client device and establishingsession keys for the secure session between the first client device andthe proxy server; after establishing the secure session between thefirst client device and the proxy server, receiving an encrypted firstrequest from the first client device for an action to be performed on aresource; decrypting the encrypted first request using at least some ofthe established session keys for the secure session between the firstclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedfirst request, that the first domain is a destination of the firstrequest; participating in a secure session negotiation with a firstorigin server that hosts the first domain including, transmitting to thefirst origin server a Transport Layer Security (TLS) client hellomessage that includes a name of the first domain, receiving a digitalcertificate from the first origin server, and establishing session keysfor a secure session between the proxy server and the first originserver; after establishing a secure session between the proxy server andthe first origin server, encrypting the decrypted first request usingthe at least some of the established session keys for the secure sessionbetween the proxy server and the first origin server; and transmitting,to the first origin server, the encrypted first request that wasencrypted using at least some of the established session keys for thesecure session between the proxy server and the first origin server. 12.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the set of non-transitorycomputer-readable storage mediums further stores instructions, that whenexecuted by the set of processors, cause the set of processors toperform the following operations: receiving a second secure sessionrequest from a second client device for a secure session between thesecond client device and the proxy server, wherein the second securesession request is received at the proxy server as a result of a DNSrequest for a second domain resolving to the IP address of the proxyserver, wherein the second domain is one of the plurality of domainsthat resolve to the IP address of the proxy server; participating in asecure session negotiation with the second client device includingtransmitting the digital certificate to the second client device,wherein the second domain is one of the set of other domains of whichthe digital certificate is bound and establishing session keys for thesecure session between the second client device and the proxy server;after establishing the secure session between the second client deviceand the proxy server, receiving an encrypted second request from thesecond client device for an action to be performed on a resource;decrypting the encrypted second request using at least some of theestablished session keys for the secure session between the secondclient device and the proxy server; determining, from the decryptedsecond request, that the second domain is a destination of the secondrequest; and transmitting the decrypted second request unencrypted to asecond origin server that hosts the second domain.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the domains bound to the digital certificatetransmitted to the first client device each share a root domain.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the domains bound to the digitalcertificate transmitted to the first client device are each owned oroperated by a same domain owner.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinthe domains bound to the digital certificate transmitted to the firstclient device each host content in a same category of content.